Thanks to two recently released letters from his time in Taliban prison, Bowe Bergdahl has offered a bit of explanation as to why he left his base in June 2009. In the letters, addressed to his family and obtained by The Daily Beast, Bergdahl says that incompetent leadership and poor conditions led to his departure, and he implores those in charge of the investigation of his case to understand that there are "more sides" to the situation.
In the letter, dated March 23, 2013, he writes (words appear exactly as he wrote them):
"The cercomstance from the begaining of my time in Aphganistan from immedet top to bottum where bad for troopers espashly in my PLT. [...] Leadership was lacking, if not non-existent. The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men that where actuly the ones risking thier lives from the attack."
See the letter, and another dated November 2012, over at The Daily Beast.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: ‘Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity’ and ‘Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’feature An examination of humanity in the face of “the Machine” and a posthumous memoir from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who recently died by suicide
-
Why has America’s economy gone K-shaped?Today's Big Question The rich are doing well. Everybody else is scrimping.
-
Democrats: Falling for flawed outsidersfeature Graham Platner’s Senate bid in Maine was interrupted by the resurfacing of his old, controversial social media posts
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
